Reunion
by Ryan Bowden
Summary: Lara is reunited with someone from her past.


Note: I would like to extend my condolences to the victims and their families, in the recent attack on America in the past 48 hours. My heart goes out to you all. Ryan.  
  
Note: I wrote this as a writing folio for school. I liked it and thought I'd submit it. It was only supposed to be a short story, so if I get enough positive feedback, maybe I'll continue it when I'm finished with my Mortal Kombat fic. Ryan.  
  
Reunion  
Copyright (C) 2001 Ryan Bowden  
  
A slender, elegant hand placed an Ankh, a symbol of life in ancient Egyptian religion, on a stone pedestal. It adjusted the artifact and once it was satisfied, slowly returned to it's owner's side. That owner was Lara Croft. A well known British archeologist, come photo-journalist. Lara was raised in the life of aristocracy but, at a young age, abandoned her social calling to indulge in her love for travel and the exploration of ancient civilizations. She was extremely beautiful, with an extraordinarily fit body and a long brown braid that came to her lower back.  
  
"Perfect." She whispered in her articulated accent. Lara had attended the finest schools Britain had to offer in her youth, and her accent could give the queen a run for her money.  
  
"What do you think Hillary?" Lara asked her butler, who was standing behind her, admiring it himself.  
  
"It's magnificent." He replied, his accent equally resplendent. "Did you run into any trouble?"  
  
"No. Not at all actually." She frowned, suddenly realising how strange it was. It seemed as if someone was always trying to stop her from something.  
  
"That would be a first." He chuckled, leaving the room. Lara formed a slight smile aswell. She breathed a sigh and looked around the room she was in. It was a large sandstone room, resembling an ancient Egyptian tomb. There was a ledge running right around the square shaped room, held up with large stone pillars that reached from the floor to the roof. In the center of the room was an old sarcophagus. It's lid was a large stone carving of Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification. There were also various trinkets and such lying about the place. And, of course, the Ankh Lara had just brought back from her latest expedition.   
  
Anyone would believe that they were in Egypt, but in fact it was a room in Lara's home, Croft Manor. After Lara's parents had died, it was left to her. At first she thought that she had no use for it, until she realised it would make a great base of operations. She now used it to store vehicles, weapons, artifacts, and various instruments for her training.   
  
She shared her home with her butler, Hillary, and her technical advisor, Bryce. Bryce was a little younger than Lara and had worked with her for several years. He, unlike Lara, was not raised by a wealthy family, and was somewhat common, which Lara found quite refreshing. As Lara admired her surroundings, a shadow dashed across the wall she was looking at.  
  
"Was there something you wanted Hillary?" She asked without turning. There was no answer. She raised an elegant eyebrow and turned to look at him.   
  
"Hillary?" There was no one there. She furrowed her brow and scanned the room with her eyes but turned up nothing. Lara headed to the entrance of the tomb.   
  
She pushed open the clear glass door and inspected the fairly high tech communications room. Bryce sat at one of the many computer consoles, his back to Lara. He had headphones on and was moving his head to a beat Lara couldn't hear. Something Lara felt he did most of the time. She smiled and walked back into her tomb.   
  
Just as she was about to enter the center of the room, a gunshot sounded, the bullet striking one of the stone pillars, just inches from Lara's head. She ducked and instinctively pulled her twin guns from the holsters strapped to her thighs. Moving swiftly, Lara ducked behind the pillar, pressing her back against it. Her mind ran through a list of names, those that would try to kill her. Unfortunately, the list was to large for her to draw any conclusive suspects. She decided on her old policy of 'shoot first, check for ID's later'.   
  
Lara lept out of her hiding place and thrusted her guns in the direction of her attacker. But he had moved already. A noise behind her caused her to turn and fire, missing him by mere centimeters and leaving stray bullet holes in the sandstone walls. Lara now knew he was on the second tier of the tomb, leaving her very vulnerable on the lower level.   
  
Making a quick decision, she opened fire in the direction she guessed he had ducked to. She quickly holstered her guns whilst taking off, running gracefully up the back of the sarcophagus. She quickly sprinted up the back of the ancient carving of Anubis, taking a running leap from it's head and just barely grabbing the edge of the second tier. She hauled herself up and quickly ducked behind a pillar, producing her guns once again.   
  
She imagined Bryce still sitting at his console, music blaring, and Hillary cleaning the mess she left in her study. She was alone. Although not nearly as alone as she had first anticipated. Hearing another noise, Lara lept from her new hiding place, guns firing. But he wasn't there. Lara suddenly realised he was toying with her. Throwing rocks and the like to make a noise, forcing her to reveal her hiding place. She then realised she was on the opposite side of the room to the Ankh.   
  
"Oh good show Lara." She said to herself, realising her mistake. Just then her attacker opened fire, forcing Lara back into hiding. After Lara had hidden herself from his sight, her attacker holstered his guns, in almost identical holsters to hers, and took a leap from the ledge. Lara poked her head around the pillar to see him turn head over heels, quite majestically in mid air. He landed right in front of the Ankh. Lara began to open fire again, but he grabbed the artifact and tucked it in his backpack, while diving for cover behind the nearest pillar. She kept her guns trained on his hiding place, waiting for him to move.   
  
Eventually her patience paid off, as he began to sprint around the outside of the room, remaining hidden behind the pillars. Lara continued firing, not letting up, but he kept running, narrowly avoiding her fire. His dark clothing and black balaclava were being sprayed with the dust from Lara's bullet holes.   
  
Soon he managed to make it under the ledge Lara was standing on. Without hesitating, she somersaulted off the ledge and landed perfectly on the ground. Benefits of her gymnastics training from school. She turned immediately after landing, coming face to mask with her attacker, both of them having their guns pointed directly at the other. In less than a heart beat, Lara pulled the triggers on her pistols. To her surprise, the only sound they made was a little click. Empty.   
  
Lara saw her attacker cock his head to the side. Her eyes opened wide as she realised her predicament. The world slowed down. Lara was faced with the answer to the question she had always tried to ignore. How would she die? Her lifestyle threw her up against all kinds of situations in which she could lose her life, but she never once imagined it to end like this. She saw his finger squeeze the trigger on his gun and the world was suddenly thrown back into it's normal speed.   
  
The gun fired, spitting a bullet directly at her chest. Lara was knocked back, losing her grip on her guns. They loudly clattered to the floor as she clutched her breast. She looked down, expecting to see her own blood, spilling over her hand and onto the ground. But all she held was a discharged bullet. A blank.   
  
Lara looked up, her face dripping with confusion. She watched as her attacker holstered his guns and brought his hand up to remove the balaclava. He tossed it to the dusty ground and scratched his head, fixing the bit of hair that was standing up. He was about six years younger than Lara, with short brown hair and an attractive face. A face Lara hadn't seen for years.  
  
"Ewan?" She asked her cousin in utter shock.  
  
"Hi Lara." He smiled. His accent was also very refined. Despite not having seen her cousin for some time, Lara couldn't contain her outburst.  
  
"What the bloody hell are you doing!? I was using live rounds, I could have killed you!" She exploded. Ewan smiled at his cousin.  
  
"Oh, get over yourself Lara." He replied playfully. He reached behind his back and pulled out the Ankh he had stolen from her. He tossed it to her as he walked past, through the big glass door. Lara looked at the Ankh in her hands, and out the door as Ewan greeted the unsuspecting Bryce. When Ewan pulled the earphones off his head, he nearly fell out of his chair. Lara stared at her cousin as he embraced his friend, and managed to force a smile onto her face.   
  
"I guess I trained him a little too well." She said to herself before heading over to replace the Ankh on the pedestal.  



End file.
